In home centers, paint stores, hardware stores and other paint retailing establishments, various devices are used to dispense and mix custom colors, including mixers such as applicant's TruMixCM™ vibrational mixer and applicant's TruMix™ vortex blenders.
A vortex blender is an apparatus that tips the paint container at an angle from the vertical and rotates the container about a non-vertical rotational axis while simultaneously rotating the container about a vertical axis in an orbital motion. These simultaneous motions effectively blend the colorants into the base paint. Advantages of this method include the relative lack of unbalanced movement, allowing large, heavy containers of paint to be blended without significant vibration, and without causing “walking” of the apparatus along its supporting surface during operation.
However, in present designs a 5-gallon (19 liter) bucket, which may weigh as much as 80 lbs. (36 kg), must be lifted a significant distance off of the floor and the bottom of the bucket tilted approximately 30 degrees in order for the bucket to slide down into the bucket-retaining well of the mixer. This can be difficult to accomplish under some circumstances.
This application discloses ergonomic improvements in a vortex blender to facilitate easier loading of the paint container into the blender and to more efficiently integrate the blender into an automated system including a roll conveyor for transferring paint containers from a blending machine to the vortex mixer.
While the disclosure of this application relates to mixing paint, the features disclosed in this application may have application in other fields of use, such as blending adhesives, mastics, surface finishes, food and beverage products and any other materials where efficient blending is required. Similarly, while this application discloses a vortex mixer utilizing gears and geared belts, the features disclosed have equal application to systems that may use conventional belt and pulley or other drive systems.